Completing the top ten, and more than likely to have a place in Q2 on Saturday with rain forecast throughout the day, is Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), Mattia Pasini (Tasca Racing Scuderia) and Augusto Fernandez (FlexBox HP40). The intermediate class are back on track on Saturday morning 09:55 local time (GMT+8) ahead of the grid being set, starting at 15:05 local time (GMT+8) for Q1.
The team has fielded one A-Spec and one B-Spec Yamaha YZR-M1 for its debut MotoGP™ season in 2019. Heading into its home race, the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix, the team sits in fourth position in the overall Team standings as well as leading the Independent Team classification by 58 points. Over the course of 2019, the team has started from the front row of a GP fourteen times, with four pole positions and six trips to the podium.
The team has fielded one A-Spec and one B-Spec Yamaha YZR-M1 for its debut MotoGP™ season in 2019. Heading into its home race, the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix, the team sits in fourth position in the overall Team standings as well as leading the Independent Team classification by 58 points. Over the course of 2019, the team has started from the front row of a GP fourteen times, with four pole positions and six trips to the podium.
Heavy overnight rain meant FP1 for the lightweight class was fairly stagnant, with the Sepang International Circuit taking some time to dry before the riders were confident enough to rumble out of pitlane on dry tyres. However, the afternoon session didn’t spring any complications in terms of the weather as everyone immediately went faster than they did in the morning. And during that morning session, Petronas Sprinta Racing’s Ayumu Sasaki suffered a crash at Turn 10, but that didn’t deter the Japanese rider as he came out to jump straight to the top of the standings in FP2.
Yamaha’s Halliday sets Friday ASBK benchmark in Sydney
Section: Competition
Newly-crowned champion Toparis unmatched in Supersport practice.
Image: Russell Colvin.
Yamaha Racing Team’s Cru Halliday topped all three sessions at Sydney Motorsport Park on Friday to commence the final round of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK).
Halliday’s eventual best lap-time was a 1m30.486s set in warm conditions during Kawasaki Superbike practice three, edging Wayne Maxwell (Team Suzuki Ecstar) on combined times.
Maxwell was just 0.014s in arrears of Halliday today, in turn closely followed by second of the factory Yamaha’s in Daniel Falzon. The top five was filled by title-leader Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing) and Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati).
Positions six through nine featured Mark Chiodo (Penrite Honda Racing), Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCperformance), Josh Waters (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Matt Walters (Kawasaki) – each within a second of Halliday atop the time-sheets. Tenth came Glenn Allerton (Maxima BMW) on the brand new S 1000 RR.
Image: Russell Colvin.
In the Motorsports TV Supersport category it was number one plate-holder Tom Toparis (Yamaha) who was easily quickest with a 1m32.655s, a full 1.677s clear of World Supersport 300 regular Tom Edwards (Yamaha). Third was another R6 in Jack Passfield (Yamaha).
Leading the way this afternoon in YMI Supersport 300 was Kawasaki-mounted Senna Agius, his 1m43.455s topping Hunter Ford (Yamaha) and Max Stauffer (Yamaha). Stauffer turned the tables on Ford in the YMF R3 Cup, with Ben Baker third. The bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup top three featured Jacob Hatch, Max Gibbons and Carter Thompson.
On-track action will resume tomorrow, where the final practices, qualifying and the first races of the championship finals are scheduled to take place at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The track temperature was over 54-degrees by the time Superbike FP2 got underway at 1330 this afternoon and as a result many riders failed to improve on the times they had set in FP1. It was still Cru Halliday topping the time-sheets throughout though with a 1m30.823s ahead of Mark Chiodo, the young Penrite Honda rider improving markedly on his FP1 time.
The track temperature had dropped slightly, to 52.7-degrees when riders headed out of pit-lane at 1545 for FP3.
Mike Jones was quick out of the blocks with a 1m31.003s on his first flying lap this afternoon then backed it up with a 1m30.770s on his second circuit, almost good enough to best Halliday’s 1m30.752s from FP1. On his third lap of the session Jones then recorded a 1m30.885s, followed by a 1m31.065s then 1m31.608s followed by 1m31.391s, 1m31.765s and 1m31.362s before then pulling into the pits.
FP1 pacesetter and still leader on combined times Cru Halliday did not leave the pits until halfway through the 30-minute session. Just as Jones returned to the DesmoSport Ducati pit bay.
Daniel Falzon had put in a great 1m31.220s early on in the session and was also back out to try and better it in the second half of the session.
Bryan Staring was also starting to wind up the BCperformance Kawasaki, the Western Australian improved to a 1m31.081s with 12 minutes to go.
Daniel Falzon then dropped in the fastest time of the day thus far, a 1m30.543s to the young South Australian with ten minutes remaining. He then slowed to a 1m33.679s before ramping up again on the next lap where he was under at the first split, slightly outside at the second and then crossed the line to record a 1m30.878s. There were now seven minutes remaining.
Wayne Maxwell kept his power dry until this stage of the game but then announced his presence with a 1m30.500s to take top spot from Falzon.
Five minutes remaining and Daniel Falzon, Mike Jones and Bryan Staring were heading back out on track while Cru Halliday was shaping up for a flyer… Halliday under Maxwell’s marker at the first split, under again at the second and then crossed the line to go P1 on a 1m30.486s.
Then it was Herfoss’ turn to shake things up. A tenth outside at the first split, three-tenths at the second before then pulling back a little time in the last sector to set a 1m30.739s. There were now two minutes remaining… The Penrite Honda man had another crack but failed to improve further.
Mike Jones had used his last laps of the session to try a new shock in the DesmoSport Ducati but ended up preferring the previous set-up. His run of laps earlier in the session very impressive and he put in the largest number of quick laps today.
Thus YRT’s Halliday is the top man for the day ahead of Maxwell, Falzon, Herfoss, Jones, Chiodo, Staring and Josh Waters.
Matt Walters continued his recent hot form to be right on the heels of the factory boys and ahead of Glenn Allerton who rounded out the top ten on the NextGen BMW.
Friday Combined Times
Pos
Name
Bike
Time
1
Cru HALLIDAY
Yamaha YZF-R1
1m30.486
2
Wayne MAXWELL
Suzuki GSXR
1m30.500
3
Daniel FALZON
Yamaha YZF-R1
1m30.543
4
Troy HERFOSS
Honda CBR SP
1m30.739
5
Mike JONES
Ducati FE
1m30.770
6
Mark CHIODO
Honda CBR SP
1m31.020
7
Bryan STARING
Kawasaki ZX10R
1m31.081
8
Josh WATERS
Suzuki GSXR
1m31.321
9
Matt WALTERS
Kawasaki ZX10R
1m31.428
10
Glenn ALLERTON
BMW S RR
1m31.823
11
Damon REES
Honda CBR SP
1m31.885
12
Jamie STAUFFER
Ducati V4R
1m32.110
13
Arthur SISSIS
Suzuki GSXR
1m32.355
14
Alex PHILLIS
Suzuki GSXR
1m32.634
15
Lachlan EPIS
Kawasaki ZX10R
1m32.678
16
Sloan FROST
Suzuki GSXR
1m33.446
17
Ben BURKE
Kawasaki ZX10R
1m33.531
18
Brendan
Suzuki GSXR
1m33.974
19
Dominic DE LEON
Kawasaki ZX10R
1m35.608
20
Matthew TOOLEY
Yamaha YZF-R1
1m36.236
21
Heath GRIFFIN
Suzuki GSXR
1m36.247
22
Nathan SPITERI
Suzuki GSXR
1m36.778
23
Michael EDWARDS
Yamaha YZF-R1
1m36.877
Supersport
It was a very hot FP2 session for Avalon Biddle.Her Cube Racing YZF-R6 burst into flames when she entered pit-lane and she promptly jumped off the machine as fire extinguishers were called to action and thankfully put it out before too much damage was wrought. Still, her crew is left with a lot of work to do.
Despite the hot track temperatures late in the afternoon, Tom Toparis lowered his marker further in FP3, a 1m32.655s only one-thousandth away from Jamie Stauffer’s Supersport lap record from 2008.Tommy has a little way to go for the fastest outright Supersport lap though, that also belongs to Jamie with his 1m32.009s in qualifying on his way to pole in 2008.
Tom Edwards improved dramatically in FP3 to place second in Supersport for the day but his time is 1.7-seconds off Toparis. Still, an impressive outing on the BikeBiz YZF-R6 after a season spent on SuperSport 300 machinery in Europe.
Aidan Hayes was third quickest ahead of Jack Passfield and Callum Spriggs while Broc Pearson was sixth ahead of Nic Liminton and Oli Bayliss.
Pos
Name
Machine
Time
1
Tom TOPARIS
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m32.655
2
Tom EDWARDS
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m34.332
3
Aidan HAYES
Yamaha YZF-R6
134.514
4
Jack PASSFIELD
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m34.603
5
Callum SPRIGGS
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m34.711
6
Broc PEARSON
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m34.736
7
Nic LIMINTON
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m34.933
8
Oli BAYLISS
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m34.954
9
Jack HYDE
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m35.472
10
Richie DIBBEN
Suzuki GSXR
1m35.885
11
Ty LYNCH
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m36.067
12
Rhys BELLING
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m36.081
13
Chris QUINN
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m36.514
14
Dallas SKEER
Suzuki GSXR
1m36.655
15
Brodie MALOUF
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m37.246
16
Luke MITCHELL
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m37.421
17
Callum O’BRIEN
Kawasaki ZX6R
1m37.836
18
Avalon BIDDLE
Yamaha YZF-R6
1m38.322
19
Andrew EDSER
Kawasaki ZX6R
1m38.514
Supersport 300
Senna Agius topped proceedings in Supersport 300 with his 1m43.455s in FP2 good enough to top the overall timesheets ahead of Hunter Ford and Max Stauffer.
This year’s Selection Event saw drier skies than last year, allowing the young hopefuls maximum track time to show what they’ve got. Nearly 90 riders were put through their paces throughout the day around Sepang Go-Kart track, before the Selection Committee made their final decisions in the afternoon. The committee, led by Talent Promotion Director Alberto Puig, selected riders from Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and Turkey to either join the grid next year or be on the reserve list.
Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Fabio Quartararo set a new lap record of 1:59.027 in MotoGP™ FP1 at the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix to lead teammate Franco Morbidelli at the team’s home race. Fellow Yamaha rider Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) claimed P3 as the leading trio were split by less than two tenths.
After overnight rain the Sepang International Circuit had dried for the intermediate class, and it was Marquez who was the early pacesetter. That didn’t last though as a shadowing Nagashima took top spot from the Spaniard in the closing stages, with title contender Binder also jumping above Marquez just before the chequered flag waved. All four Moto2™ title contenders were inside the top five, thanks to Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) finishing 0.6 off Nagashima.